The moment that Natsu dragged her back to the bar, he ushered her through the door and back over to the seat she had been in before and waited until she was sitting back down before taking his seat next to her and picked up her drink and silverware and handing them to her before busying himself with the food that he had ordered.

It had gotten a little cool while they had been gone, but other wise was fine.

The two of them ate their food, occasionally trying to make conversation, but everything they tried talking about came out as more awkward than it should have been. Mainly because neither of them knew what to say to one another.

So Rissa thought to make things easier on Natsu and gather information at the same time by starting small and trying to think of what she didn't know already.

"So Natsu, how long have we known each other?" She finally asked, figuring that this question was as good as any to start things off.

Natsu paused in mid motion, his fork half way to his mouth and glanced at her as he slowly lowered his fork and nervously cleared his throat. He'd known that Lucy would get around to asking him things inevitably, so he wasn't terribly surprised by her question.

He was however surprised by the question that she had thought to ask. Maybe because she sounded so cautious to him. Like she was afraid that she wasn't going to like his answer. Not that he could blame her any. He could understand what she was thinking as a single girl who had a guy sort of attach himself to her.

She was probably wondering if she could really trust him and though it pained him a bit to admit it, it was a damn good question.

It showed that she was being very cautious and level headed about her current condition and was trying to think of ways to keep herself from being taken advantage of.

Again, it was a damn good question.

And if their roles were reversed he'd probably ask the same thing to see if he could really trust her. "About a year in a half." He finally said as he pushed his plate away knowing that their conversation, once it was under way, would probably last for a while.

"How did we meet?"

Natsu chewed his bottom lip for a second and debated with himself on lying to her or not. On one hand he didn't want to tell her that she had been caught in a love charm, nor did he want to tell her about how he had saved her from the slavers that had been about to brand her as an object.

It would make her worry unnecissarily. And it would also make her question things in a paranoid fashion that would drive him, and herself up the wall- crazy. In the end after a few seconds of silent debate, he decided to go ahead and tell her the truth.

"I sort of ran into you when you were under the influence of a love charm. You bought me lunch to thank me for snapping you out of it and then later that day you were on a slave ship and I sort of came crashing through the ceiling just in time to spare you from being branded."

He cringed as soon as he was done speaking. Honestly, wouldn't anyone cringe upon hearing that they had been bewitched then captured by slavers? He glanced at her and sucked in a breath when he noticed how pale and horrified she looked.

"L-Love charm? Slavers?" She squeaked, the horrified look on her face never changing though he got the distinct impression that she was on the verge of being sick or something.

Natsu wasn't sure how to react to that look on her face. All he knew was that he didn't like it. She closed her eyes for a second and turned away and took several deep breaths and then finally asked. "You'll fill me in later on the effects of love charms and their many uses, won't you?"

Natsu made a strained sound.

He'd really rather not but he understood her need to be informed about such things. After all if she fell under the influence of a very potent one, she'd be in some serious trouble. Especially since some guys used them to collect young girls and put them to work in brothels and stuff while others used them to divest a girl of her innocence and leave her reputation in ruins.

Causing strain between the victim and her family and friends and sometimes resulting in the suicide of the disgraced woman.

"Yeah. I'll tell you about them later."

"Thank you-" She said very softly before asking. "You weren't hurt when you saved me? Were you?"

"No."

"Well, that's something I suppose." She said with a sigh and Natsu wondered what she meant before she moved things along by asking another question.

"Okay. What sort of relationship do we have?" Natsu made a choking sound as a flush worked it's way across his face.

What the hell sort of question was that? He wondered as he blurted out. "We're partners. Just partners. Nothing more."

She looked at him and then lifted a hand and poked him in the cheek with one finger and asked warily. "Are you sure about that?"

"Very sure."

She made a humming sound and gave him a doubtful look then looked away again. "Alright. So we're just friends."